Motion-picture machine



Dec. 15, 1925-- f 1,566,087

7 A. GORRETTA MOTION PICTURE MACHINE Filed May '7, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 85 81 Y Andrew Gor-r'ezta 80 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Dec. 15, 1925 1,566,087

- A. GORRETTA MOTION PICTURE MACHINE Filed May 7, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Andrew Gorr'el'la INVENITOR.

A TTORN E 3 IS.

Dec. 15, 1925- 1,566,087

, A. GQRRETTA MOTION PICTURE MACHINE Filed May '7, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 v Aizdfew Gorre (ta INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Dec. 15, 1925' 1,566,087

A. GORRETTA MOTI ON PI CTURE MACHINE Filed May 7,2592? 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ArmR/vm Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

' UNITED STATES ANDREW GORBETTA, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WORLDSEYE COMPANY,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

MOTION-PICTURE MACHINE.

Application filed May 7,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW GORRETTA, a citizen of'the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and 5 State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Motion-Picture Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

1 My invention relates to motion picture machines and particularly to those motion picture machines designed for portable use and the principal object of my invention is to provide a new and improved motion pic- 1 ture machine particularly adapted for use as a portable machine. In the drawings accompanying this specification and forming a part thereof I have shown, for'purposes of illustration, one form which my invention may assume. In these drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation of this illustrative machine,

Figure 2 is a view from the left of Figure 1 omitting certain parts and showing other parts partially broken away,

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but with additional parts omitted and showing the film supports and reels in inoperative side by side relation,

Figure 4 is an end view of the machine taken from the right in Figure l but with the parts in the position shown in Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a detail showing the driving connections for the wind-up reel,

Figure 6 is a detail showing the'method of securing the film supports in adjusted position,

Figure 7 is a detail of a portion of the mechanism shown in Figure 1,

Figure 8 is areverse view of the mechanism shown in Figure 7, while Figure 9 is a detail of the intermittent 1923. Serial No. 637,112.,

and is provided with a door 22 forming the front side thereofand pivoted at 23 to the rear end to permit it to be swung back to afford access to the mechanism within the case.

Within the case 21 there is shown a projection box 24 suitably. mounted upon the case 21 and supporting at its forward endthe telescoping tubes 25 and 26 which carry the objective lens and which are adjustable by means of a screw 27 mounted at 28 in the front end of the case 21 and threade'dly engaging a nut 29 having a tip 30 adapted to ride in a groove 31 in the sleeve 26 and to cause this sleeve 26 to advance and recede as the nut 29 is advanced and retracted by operation of the screw 27. Also supported upon this projection box 24 by means of suitable hinges is a plate 32 adapted to form with the projection box 24 a film guide and secured in closed or operative position by a latch 33 pivoted to the projection box 24 at 34 and provided with a hook 35 adapted to engage a pin 36 carried by the plate 32. Mounted upon this plate 32 is a sleeve 37 which is provided with a slot 38 adapted to receive-a suitably supported fire shutter 39 and is also arranged to receive within itself, and in this manner support, a lens sleeve\40 which in turn carries the entire lamp housing 41 which contains a suitable lamp recelving its power from a line 42 through a regulator 43 and intermediate connections 44.

Also mounted upon this projection box 24 is the mechanism for advancing the film. This mechanism isherein shown as comprising a pair of toothed wheels 45 and 46 arranged to be continuously driven to continuously advance the film at its average rate of speed and a third wheel 47 arranged to be intermittently rotated to inwhe l mecha i m termittently advance the film to bring successive views before the projection aperture. The wheel 45'is carried by a shaft 48 hearing on its reverse end a worm gear 49 adapted to be operated by a worm 50 carried by the vertical shaft 51 which in turn carries a second worm 52 engaging a second worm gear 53 carried by-the reverse end of the shaft 54 on which-the wheel 46 is mounted.

The wheel 47 is carried by a shaft 55 on engaged by a pin 58 carried by a cam 59- coage speed of the shaft 55. In its passage through this projection mechanism the film is held in engagement with the wheel 45 by means of an idler roller 64, with the wheel 47 by means of an idler roller 65, and'with the wheel 46 by means of an idler roller 66.

The position of the roller 47 with relation to the projection aperture in the box 24 is adjustable to permit the picture to be properly framed in the aperture and this adjustment may be provided in any suitable manner and in particular by the mechanism herein shown. According to this illustrative method of adjustment the entire star-wheel and cam mechanism, including the wheel 47, the shaft 55, the star-wheel 56, the cam 59, the shaft 61, and the bevel-gear 62. is mounted in a sub-frame 67 supported from the projection box 24 by means of a semi-circular projection 68 substantially concentric with the shaft 61, unitary with the sub-frame 67,

and rotatably carried by the projection box 24 in such manner that this entire sub-frame 67 may be rotated about the axis of the projection 68 to raise or lower the wheel 47 to permit positioning of the wheel 47 at that point at which the distance between it and the projection aperture will cause each individual view on the film to be propcrly framed in the projection aperture. This entire sub-assembly may be rotated in any desired manner but because the door 22 is normally closed during operation of the machine I find it convenient to provide the subframe 67 with. a handle 69 extending outwardly through a slot 70 in the front end of the case 21 to provide an operating extremity 71 by which the adjustment may be made from the exterior of thecase.

The vertical shaft 51, and with it the wheels45, 46, and 47, may be operatedlin any suitable manner but is herein-shown as operated from the shaft 61 which may be operated directly by means of a. crank or may be operated by means of a pulley 72' mounted on the shaft 61 and driven bv a belt 73 tensioned by a take-up roller 7 4 and operated by an electric motor 75 controlled by a rheostat 76. V

' In operation the film is contained on a reel mounted within a reel. support 77 which may be of any suitable type but is-preferablv closed and provided with a hinged door 78 permitting free access to the interior and this film is transferred to a second reel carried by a second support 79 which may be identical with the reel support 77 and accordingly may carry a door 80 identical with the door 78. 1 Each of these reel supports 77 and 7 9 is herein shown as provided with a slide 81 adapted to be received either in a guide 82 carried by the top of the case 21 and shown in' Figure 1 as having received the reel support 77 or by a second guide 83 carried by the bottom of the case 21 and shown in Figure 1 as having received the reel support 79. Each of these guides 82 and 83 is provided with an undercut edge 84 adapted'to co-opcratewith a similar under-' cut edge 85 on each of the slides 81 and opposite to this undercut edge 84, with a co operating edge 86 adapted to be advanced by means of cams 87 to tightly clamp the slide 81 to the guide 82 or 83. preferably made of such length as to receive but a single film support and to hold that support, when it is fully seated, in such position that the reel carried thereby is in aline- -ment with the projection mechanism, while the guide 83 is preferably of such'length that while it may hold one reel support in such position that its reel is in alinement with the projection mechanism it may nevertheless hold a second reel support whenever the machine is not in use and the second reel support may be carried in inoperative position. In the'machine herein disclosed this is accomplished by placin thereel support 77 beside the reel support 79 after the reel support 79 has been moved toward the rear side of the case 21 out of alinement with the projection mechanism.

In order to care for the film as it is passed through the projection mechanism it is necessary to provide a drive for the reel contained Within the film support 79 and this drive is herein shown as comprising a pulley 88 mounted. on the shaft 54 and driving a belt 89 which is held in tension by an idler 90 and in turn drives a pulley 91 loosely mounted on a shaft 92 and biased by a spring 93 longitudinally of the shaft 92 into frictional engagement with a disc 94 unitary with the shaft 92. The shaft 92 is arranged to carry the reel contained within the film support 79 and in order to maintain operative connection with this reel during the adjustment of the film support 79 into and out of operative position this shaft 92 is formed in two parts and comprises a sleeve 95 adapted to receive within itself an extension shaft 96 which directly carries the reel and is provided with a flattened portion 97 co-operating with a pin'98 carried by the sleeve 95 to rotatably connect the extension 96 with the s eeve 95 while permitting longitudinal adjustment between the extension and the sleeve. The spring 93 is compressed between the pulley 91 and a disc 99 carried by The guide 82 is operable by means of a hand nut 101 positioned exteriorly of the case 21 to permit adjustment of the clutch during the operation of the machine without necessitating" opening of the case 21.

From the above description it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that I have produced a new and improved motion picture machine particularly suitable for portable use. It will also be readily apparent that the specific embodiment of my invention herein disclosed may be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the invention and that the disclosure herein must therefore be considered as illustrative only and my invention as not limited thereto.

I claim:

1. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a pair of reel supports, means adapted to mount said supports on said case with said reels in side by side relation and to permit lateral movement of one of said supports while retaining it mounted, means adapted to mount the other of said supports on said case in a second position, and means for operating the reel carried by said one support operatively connected to said reel in the various lateral positions of said one support.

2. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine,'a pair of reel supports, means adapted to mount said supports on said case with the reels in side by side relation and to permit lateral movement of one of said supports while retaining it mounted, means to mount the other of said supports on said case in a second position with its reel alined with the reel carried by the one support after said one support has I, been laterally shifted, and. means for operating the reel carried by said one support operatively connected to said reel in the various lateral positions of said one support.

3. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a pair of reel supports, means to mount said supports on said case with the reels in side by side relation and to permit lateral .movement of one of said supports while retainin it mounted, and means to mount one of said supports on said case in a second position.

4. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a pair of reel supports, means to mount said supports on said case with the reels inside by side relation and to permit lateral movement of one of said supports while retaining it in mounted relation, and means to mount one of said supports on said case in a second position with its .reel alined with the reel of the other support after said other support has been laterally shifted.

5. Ina portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a pair of reel supports, means, for mounting said supports on said case with the reels in side by side relasaid frame in a second'position and to per- 3 mit lateral movement of sai'd'second support,

and means, for operating the reel carried by said second support, operatively connected to said reel in the various lateral positions of said second support.

6. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, projection mechanism carried thereby, a pair of reel supports, means to mount said supports on said case with the reels in side by side relation out of operative relation to said projection mechanism and to permit lateral movement of one of said supports while retaining it mounted, and means to mount one of said supports on said case in a second position in operative relation to said projection mecha nism.

7. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, projection mechanism carried thereby, a pair of reel supports, means to mount said supports on said case with the reels in side by side relation out of operative relation to said projection mechanism and to permit lateral movement of one of said supports while retaining it mounted, and means to mount one of said sup ports on said case in a second position with its reel alined with said projection mechanism and with the reel of the other support after said other support has been laterally shifted.

8. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, projection mechanism carried thereby, a pair of reel supports, means for mounting said supports on said case with the reels in side by side relation out of operative relation to said projection mechanism adapted to permit removal of one of said reel supports and mounting thereof on said frame in a second position in operable relation to said projection mechanism and to permit lateral movement of said second support into operative relation to said projection mechanism, and means for operating the reel carried by said second support operatively connected to said reel in the various lateral positions of said second support.

9. In a portable motion picture ma chine, a case for said machine, projection mechanism carried thereby, a pair of reel supports, means adapted to mount said supports on said case with said reels in side by side relation out of operative relation to said projection mechanism and topermit one of 7 said supports to be moved laterally into operative relation to said projection mechanism, means adapted to mount the other of said supports in a second position onsaid case in operative relation to said projection mechanism, and means for operating the reel bf said one support arranged to maintain operative connection with said reel regardless of said lateral movement of said one support.

10. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a reel support, projection mechanism, driving mechanism for the reel, and-means adapted to mount said reel support on said case and to permit lateral adjustment thereof to brin said reel into either operative or inoperatlve relation to said projection mechanism While maintaining operative connection between said reel and said operating mechanism.

11. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a reel support, projection mechanism, and means adapted to mount said reel support on said case and to permit lateral adjustment thereof to bring the film reel carried thereby into either operative or inoperative relation to said projection mechanism, and a second reel support adapted to be r'eeeived by said means only when the first: reel support is in inoperative position. V

12. In a portable motion picture machine, a case for said machine, a reel support, projection mechanism for the reel, and means adapted to mount said reel support on said case and to permit lateral adjustment thereof to bring said reel into and out of operafive relation to said projection mechanism while maintaining operative connection between said reel and said operating mechanism, and a second reel support adapted to be received by said means only when the first reel support is in inoperative position.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

ANDREW GORRETTA. 

